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Mental Factors (Buddhism)
Mental factors ( or ''chitta samskara'' ; ; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: སེམས་བྱུང ''sems byung''), in Buddhism, are identified within the teachings of the Abhidhamma (Buddhist psychology). They are defined as aspects of the mind that apprehend the quality of an object, and that have the ability to color the mind. Within the Abhidhamma, the mental factors are categorized as formations () concurrent with mind ().Guenther (1975), Kindle Location 321.Kunsang (2004), p. 23.Geshe Tashi Tsering (2006), Kindle Location 456. Alternate translations for mental factors include "mental states", "mental events", and "concomitants of consciousness". Introduction Mental factors are aspects of the mind that apprehend the quality of an object and have the ability to color the mind. Geshe Tashi Tsering explains: :The Tibetan for mental factors, ''semlay jungwa chö'' (Skt. ''chaitasika dharma''), means phenomena arising from the mind, suggesting that the mental factors are not prim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wylie Transliteration
Wylie transliteration is a method for Transliteration, transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English-language typewriter. The system is named for the American scholar Turrell V. Wylie, who created the system and published it in a 1959 ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' article. It has subsequently become a standard transliteration scheme in Tibetan studies, especially in the United States. Any Tibetic languages, Tibetan language romanization scheme faces the dilemma of whether it should seek to accurately reproduce the sounds of spoken Tibetan or the spelling of written Tibetan. These differ widely, as Tibetan orthography became fixed in the 11th century, while pronunciation continued to language change, evolve, comparable to the English orthography and French orthography, which reflect late medieval pronunciation. Previous transcription schemes sought to split the difference with the result that they achieved neither goal perfectly. Wyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarvastivada
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particularly known as an Abhidharma tradition, with a unique set of seven canonical Abhidharma texts.Westerhoff, 2018, p. 61. The Sarvāstivādins were one of the most influential Buddhist monastic groups, flourishing throughout North India, especially Kashmir and Central Asia, until the 7th century CE. The orthodox Kashmiri branch of the school composed the large and encyclopedic '' Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra'' around the time of the reign of Kanishka (c. 127–150 CE). Because of this, orthodox Sarvāstivādins who upheld the doctrines in the ''Mahāvibhāṣa'' were called '' Vaibhāṣikas.'' There have been debates about the exact chronological emergence of Sarvastivadins from Sthavira nikāya. According to the Theravādin '' Dī ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ekaggata
Ekaggatā (Pali; Sanskrit: '' ekāgratā'', एकाग्रता, "one-pointedness") is a Pali Buddhist term, meaning tranquility of mind or one-pointedness, but also "unification of mind." According to the Theravada-tradition, in their reinterpretation of ''jhana'' as one-pointed concentration, this mental factor is the primary component in all jhānas and the essence of concentration or samādhi. One-pointedness temporarily inhibits sensual desire, a necessary condition for any meditative attainment. Ekaggatā exercises the function of closely contemplating the object, the salient characteristic of jhāna, but it cannot perform this function alone. It requires the joint action of the other four jhāna factors each performing its own special function: vitakka, vicāra, pīti, and sukha. ''Ekaggatā'' is identified within the Buddhist teachings as: * One of the seven universal mental factors within the Theravada abhidharma teachings. * One of the qualities associated w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samadhi (Buddhism)
Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivation of Samādhi through various meditation methods is essential for the attainment of spiritual liberation (known variously as nirvana, moksha). In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the '' Yoga Sutras'' of Patanjali. In Jain meditation, samadhi is considered one of the last stages of the practice just prior to liberation. In the oldest Buddhist sutras, on which several contemporary western Theravada teachers rely, it refers to the development of an investigative and luminous mind that is equanimous and mindful. In the yogic traditions and the Buddhist commentarial tradition, on which the Burmese Vipassana movemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adhimokṣa
Adhimoksha (Sanskrit, also ''adhimokṣa''; Pali: ''adhimokkha''; Tibetan Wylie: ''mos pa'') is a Buddhist term that is translated as "interest", "intensified interest", or "decision". It is defined as holding onto a certain form object; its function is not to lose the object.Guenther (1975), Kindle Locations 434-440.Kunsang (2004), p. 23. Within the Buddhist Abhidharma teachings, adhimoksha is identified as follows: * One of the six occasional mental factors within the Theravada Abhidharma teachings * One of the five object-determining mental factors within the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings Explanation Theravada The Visuddhimagga ( XIV, 151) gives the following definition of adhimokkha: :The act of resolving is resolution. It has the characteristic of conviction. Its function is not to grope. It is manifested as decisiveness. Its proximate cause is a thing to be convinced about. It should be regarded as like a boundary-post owing to its immovableness with regard to the objec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manasikāra
Manasikara (Sanskrit and Pali, also ''manasikāra''; Tibetan Wylie: ''yid la byed pa'' or ''yid byed'') is a Buddhist term that is translated as "attention" or "mental advertence". It is defined as the process of the mind fixating upon an object.Guenther (1975), Kindle Locations 406-410.Kunsang (2004), p. 23. ''Manasikara'' is identified within the Buddhist Abhidharma teachings as follows: * One of the ''seven universal mental factors'' in the Theravada Abhidharma. * One of the ''five universal mental factors'' in the Mahayana Abhidharma Definitions Theravada Bhikkhu Bodhi states: : The Pali word literally means “making in the mind.” Attention is the mental factor responsible for the mind’s advertence to the object, by virtue of which the object is made present to consciousness. Its characteristic is the conducting (sāraṇa) of the associated mental states towards the object. Its function is to yoke the associated states to the object. It is manifested as confrontation w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mindfulness (Buddhism)
Sati (; ''smṛti''), literally "memory" or "retention", commonly translated as mindfulness, "to remember to observe", is an essential part of Buddhist practice. It has the related meanings of calling to mind the wholesome '' dhammas'' such as the four establishments of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight, and the actual practice of maintaining a lucid awareness of the ''dhammas'' of bodily and mental phenomena, in order to counter the arising of unwholesome states, and to develop wholesome states. It is the first factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali: ''sammā-sati'', Sanskrit ''samyak-smṛti'') is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path. Definition The Buddhist term translated into English as "mindfulness," "to remember to observe," originates in the Pali term ''sati'' and in its Sanskrit counterpart smṛti. Acco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prajñā (Buddhism)
() or () is a Buddhist term often translated as "wisdom", "insight", "intelligence", or "understanding". It is described in Buddhist texts as the understanding of the true nature of phenomena. In the context of Buddhist meditation, it is the ability to understand the three characteristics of all things: ("impermanence"), ("dissatisfaction" or "suffering"), and ("non-self" or "egolessness"). Mahāyāna texts describe it as the understanding of ("emptiness"). It is part of the Threefold Training in Buddhism, and is one of the ten of Theravāda Buddhism and one of the six Mahāyāna . Etymology is often translated as "wisdom", but according to Buddhist bioethics scholar Damien Keown, it is closer in meaning to "insight", "non-discriminating knowledge", or "intuitive apprehension". The component parts of the word are: ; ''Pra'' () : an intensifier which can be translated as "higher", "greater", "supreme" or "premium", or "being born or springing up", referring to a spon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chanda (Buddhism)
Chanda (Sanskrit, Pali; Tibetan: ''‘dun pa'') is translated as "intention", "interest", or "desire to act". Chanda is identified within the Buddhist Abhidharma teachings as follows: * One of the ''six occasional'' mental factors in the Theravada Abhidhamma; in this tradition, chanda is a factor that can have positive or negative result depending upon the mental factors that it is co-joined with. * One of the Ten mahā-bhūmika in Sarvastivada Abhidharma. * One of the ''five object-determining'' mental factors in the Mahayana Abhidharma; that is a factor that grasps the specification of the object. * One of the eight antidotes applied to overcome obstacles in Samatha meditation within the Mahayana tradition. Definitions Theravada tradition Ajahn Sucitto states: :Desire as an eagerness to offer, to commit, to apply oneself to meditation, is called chanda. It’s a psychological “yes,” a choice, not a pathology. In fact, you could summarize Dhamma training as the transfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sparśa
Sparśa (Sanskrit: स्पर्श; Pali: ''phassa'') is a Sanskrit term that is translated as "contact", "touching", "sensation", "sense impression", etc. It is defined as the coming together of three factors: the Ayatana, sense organ, the Ayatana, sense object, and Vijnana, sense consciousness (vijnana).Guenther (1975), Kindle Locations 401-405.Kunsang (2004), p. 23. For example, contact (''sparsha'') is said to occur at the coming together of the eye organ, a visual object, and the visual sense consciousness. Sparśa is identified within the Buddhist teachings as: * One of the Mental factors (Buddhism)#Seven universal mental factors, ''seven universal mental factors'' in the Theravada Abhidharma. * One of the Mental factors (Buddhism)#Five universal mental factors, ''five universal mental factors'' in the Mahayana Abhidharma * The sixth link in the Twelve Nidanas, twelve links of dependent origination Explanation Theravada The Atthasālinī (Expositor, Part IV, Chapter I, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cetanā
Cetanā (Sanskrit, Pali; Tibetan Wylie: sems pa) is a Buddhist term commonly translated as "volition", "intention", "directionality", etc. It can be defined as a mental factor that moves or urges the mind in a particular direction, toward a specific object or goal. Erik Pema Kunsang (translator) (2004). ''Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1''. North Atlantic Books. p. 23. Herbert V. Guenther & Leslie S. Kawamura, ''Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding"'' Dharma Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Kindle Locations 386-392). ''Cetanā'' is identified within the Buddhist teachings as follows: * One of the ''seven universal mental factors'' in the Theravada Abhidharma. * One of the Ten mahā-bhūmika in Sarvastivada Abhidharma. * One of the ''five universal mental factors'' in the Mahayana Abhidharma * The most significant mental factor involved in the creation of karma. Definitions Theravada Bhikkhu Bodhi states: : Cetana...i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saṃjñā
''Saṃjñā'' (Sanskrit; Pali: ''sañña'') is a Buddhist term that is typically translated as "perception" or "cognition." It can be defined as grasping at distinguishing features or characteristics. ''Samjñā'' has multiple meanings depending on religions. Although ''Samjñā'' means the five aggregates in Buddhism, in Hinduism, it refers to art traditions and in Jainism, it points to recognition distinct from cognition. ''Saṃjñā'' is identified within the Buddhist teachings as follows: * One of the five aggregates * One of the '' seven universal mental factors'' in the Theravada Abhidharma. * One of the '' five universal mental factors'' in the Mahayana Abhidharma Definitions Theravada Bhikkhu Bodhi states: According to the Theravada tradition, saññā experiences the same object as the citta it accompanies but it performs its own task: it 'perceives' or 'recognizes' the object and it 'marks' it so that it can be recognized again. The Atthasālinī (I, Part IV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
